Bottom unloading hopper cars are familiar in the art. These cars serve to transport dry, bulk material and are recognizable as having a configuration adapted to receive bulk material from an overhead source and contain same for transport. Additionally, these cars are equipped with vertically elongated sections displaced periodically along the car which terminate in a plurality of discharge gates which are arranged along the lower side of the hopper. These gates are adapted to allow for a rapid discharge of the contained freight into a receiving container placed below the car. Previous hopper cars have displayed features which are now known to run counter to presently perceived needs. In previous cars, car weight and therefore cost of movement thereof was not a particular concern. In the present day, however, cars must demonstrate efficiencies in transporting goods which heretofore were unheard of. Another aspect of previous cars was a total disregard of aerodynamic efficiencies which, in a similar way to car weight, had a marked effect on fuel requirements and which, in prior days, were at minimal concern to those companies operating the cars.
Regarding hopper cars specifically, prior cars have maintained an interiorly angular aspect which was ill-disposed to provide full delivery of the bulk product contained therein. These prior cars, which disclosed a surfeit of weldments, attracted and retained product in these seams, with small regard for contamination concerns or subsequent loads. Additionally, these lateral seams necessitated additional labor in fabrication of the car and correspondingly increased the cost therefor.